Method:

Clean the fish, remove scales and guts. In a pot, bring 8 cups of water to boil. Add in the fish and boil for about 10 minutes. Transfer the cooked fish out into a bowl and let cool. Strain the fish stock, then add in the peeled tamarind, and the polygonum leaves and continue to boil in low heat.

Wet your hands constantly with a bowl of water, pick the flesh out of all the fish and discard the bones. Break the fish meat into tiny pieces and put the fish back into the stock, cover the lid, and lower the heat.

Using a mini food processor, grind the spice paste until fine. Heat up a wok and saute the spice paste with cooking oil for about 6-8 minutes or until it smells aromatic and spicy. Transfer the spice paste into the boiling stock.

Extract the tamarind juice and add it into the stock. Strain the tamarind juice and keep the seed. Repeat it 3-4 times with 1/2 cup of water each time to make sure you extract all the essence from the tamarind. Continue to taste your Assam Laksa stock to make sure it’s sour and to your liking. For seasoning, add sugar, salt, and fish sauce.

Prepare the laksa noodles by following the packaging instructions. In a serving bowl, add in the laksa noodles and garnish all vegetables on top. Pour the Assam Laksa soup into the bowl and serve immediately with a spoonful of Heh Ko/prawn paste.

Before I start writing this post, I have a confession to make. I have an Asian (Chinese/Malaysian) mouth. In my gastronomic dictionary, it simply means that I can’t live without rice and noodles, soy sauce, sambal belacan, spicy and pungent food–the foods of my Chinese-Malaysian root.

Just this past week, I had a massive Asian mouth attack. Granted, I savored some of the best French foods–foie gras, cheese, mussels, seafood, duck, terrine, and the list goes on. However, three days into eating meals after meals of immaculate French food, I got bored of it…it’s too heavy and luxurious for my cheap taste. No offense to French cuisine connoisseur, I wanted something without cream or butter or sauces or excessive details; I wanted something simple and straightforward such as my Asian rice and noodle dishes–Hokkien mee, fried rice noodles, steamed rice rolls, char kway teow, chicken rice, and especiallyPenang Assam Laksa.

On the flight back home, I knew that I had to make Penang Assam Laksa to cure my Asian mouth disease and fix my craving. So, I went to the market and assembled the long list of ingredients and made myself a small pot of Penang Assam Laksa, or Nyonya noodles in spicy and tangy fish broth/soup.

A staple–and arguably the most famous–hawker food in Penang, Penang Assam Laksa is very addictive due to the spicy and sour taste of the fish broth. Tamarind is used generously in the soup base and hence the word Assam (means tamarind in Malay). In addition to tamarind, assam keping or peeled tamarind is also commonly added to give it extra tartness. Another secret ingredient is Polygonum leaf (marketed as Vietnamese mint leaf in the United States) or daun kesom/daun laksa. While the best Assam Laksa broth is infused with the aromatic ginger flower (bunga kantan), I made without it because I couldn’t find this special ingredient in the market. Of course, no Assam Laksa is complete without belacan and dollops of heh ko/prawn paste (the dark paste on the spoon).

Anyway, my Penang Assam Laksa was spot on–hot, spicy, sour, pungent, and full of flavors. It was very delicious and as good as the ones served by hawkers in Penang. At the first taste of this Penang Assam Laksa, I felt like being home. For now, I declare my my Asian mouth syndrome sorted.

Wow those look sooo good! I know exactly what you mean about having an Asian mouth. I spent a month in Spain and by the end of it I had tried more Chinese restaurants in the town i was in than i had tapas bars. I’m going to have to make some Hokkien Mee with your recipe this week after seeing this post.

What beautiful photos! I know what you mean about the tastes of home. When we travel, no matter how wonderful the cuisine is [and France is about as good as it gets to me], coming home to our own kitchens is always so welcoming.

Oh my goodness! I know exactly how you feel. I live in Paris and people don’t believe when I say malaysian/asian cuisine is the best. Nothing beats a bowl of steaming spicy assam laksa or won ton mee or rendang curry…just thinking of it is making me drool ;-)

Welcome back RM!! Dude, I totally feel you on the Asian mouth thing. I mentioned this on my blog, but towards the last part of our France trip, we started eating ramen to hold us over until we got home. The first week getting home, we ate Asian food exclusively hehe.

The pics are amazing! Did u try the fish soup in France? It looks like laksa but without the assam flavour. I can get dried bunga kantan (by Hup Loong) here in Canada for C$2/pkt. I’ll be more than happy to send u some. Now I am getting hungry…..

Oh my god!!!! your asam laksa looked great!! Drooling~~I love asam laksa and have been craving for it. Never made it myself coz hubby doesnt really fancy it. I dont want to spend time and effort making it and end up eating all by myself.awww.. wish you are one of my neighbors. >_<

I blog about how terrific food is abroad but secretly I eat more Chinese food when I’m traveling. Every where in France, even in remote villages we sneak into Chinese restaurants many times during the trip, even in Paris, we just can’t shake this craving for Chinese/Malaysian food. We can almost call London home because of the great Chinese food.I’m with you.

I LOOOVVVEEE assam laksa! Haven’t had it for ages though – and I’m too lazy to make it! I’ll just have to wait till my mum visits me again so she can make it for me! You’ve definitely given me a craving!

Looks delicious!!! Where I come from, our Laksa tend to be served with hard boiled egg, which I love so much and lots of Mint leaves!! Soupe de Poisson and the Laksa fish soup are different in the sense of the taste as we Malaysians tend to use a lot of spices in the aspect cooking. For them, it could be too spicy.Next time if you go to France again, try Bouillabaisse – the traditional Provençal fish stew. It’s way better than Soupe de Poisson. Tastier and more interesting!

Anonymous – mackerel is great for laksa and they are not hard to find in the market.

Anonymous – thanks for your offer abour dried bunga kantan, I know those, but it’s just not the same. ;)

Cooking Hut – I know about hard-boiled eggs, they are usually offered in Malay Assam Laksa, but not Chinese ones. I love it though. I did try Bouillabaisse, it tastes like soupe de poisson with seafood…similar stock I believe. I think I still prefer Italian Ciopinno in that sense. :P

WOW!!! I just found your site. I haven’t had assam laksa for decades. I had recipes from Malaysia but they all are long-winded and majority of the stuff I can’t fine here in Ottawa Canada.Your recipe is a tad shorter so I’m gonna go hunt up some of the ingredients. Probably won’t get everything but I figure something is better than NOTHING! I so miss the food in M’sia.

I regret not getting all the ingredients that couldn’t begotten easily here in UK before I fly over..Now, have to make do with the second or no grade ingredients I could find in Asia Market here :(Gosh, looking over these pics at the middle of the cold winter night, my stomach growls for more..Assam laksa is always my TOP 1 food..will definately make it one day, soon enough!THanks for the recipe.

hey.. i love penang asam laksa .. i am not malaysian .. but i used to live in KL and every single week i came to pasar malam just to get penang asam laksa … and when i went back to asia .. i spent my time in KL and ..guess what .. in 3 days i had penang asam laksa for my lunch .. i used to make penang asam laksa but now since i move to USA .. i dont know how to find bunga kantan … ullie, can u tell me, can i get something instead of bunga kantan ? what is bunga kantan in english ? .. i tried to make penang asam laksa without bunga kantan, taste was not good at all …. :( thx !

Hi, I love European food too (mostly French, Spanish, Italian and Belgian) but I do understand that after a while it can be a bit too much. The great thing about Penang and its hawker food: a very wide offer and as the dishes come in not that large portions you can go out and eat almost all day! Just returned a few weeks ago from Pg and already looking forward to our next trip. (BTW also thanks for your steamed fish recipe – Am going to cook this with some local HK salt water fish.) Great blog, Cheers – JP

thanks for the recipe. I love asian food. By the way, is there any way to make this taste richer? what should i do to make the taste richer? I made it last night, following all the steps, but it was missing something. It tasted diluted eventhough i added all the right amount of ingredients. By the way, does the taste change if i use ready made chilli paste?

Can I know how much serves do you get from the above recipe? I am planning of having some Malaysian friends over (and some are Penang born!) and am planning for this.

One more question which I don’t understand. You mentioned to add the peeled tamarind – you are referring to assam keping, right? Then later on, add the tamarind juice (the ones with seed) to the soup. Am I getting this right?

I was just thinking of Penang Assam Laksa last night, one of my favoirite Malaysian dishes. Very hard to get ginger flower in Sydney too, flavor would be huge different without ginger flower! Thanks for the recipe :)

I have had kanomjee, it’s tastes very different as it’s coconut milk based while Penang assam laksa is sour and flavored with the unique Malaysian dark sticky heh ko, which is not available in Thai cuisine. Penang assam laksa is strictly and uniquely Malaysian, and you can’t find it anywhere in the world. A lot of Thai dishes are adaptation of Chinese food, for example: many noodle dishes such as Rad Na, Pad See Ew, do you call those Chinese food even though it’s very obviously Chinese-influenced? I think that’s why Asian food is so wonderful. The food is influenced by the neighboring countries but each has its own unique flavor and characteristic that make is unique only to that country.

Penang used to be in Thailand. Penang has a lot of Thai people. The youth division of the Thai people as well. Are important to people every time I feel the Penang Assam Laksa Recipe adapted from Thai food is kanomjeen

I have just tried this out and it turns out awesome!! I have also tried many of your other receipes and have been enjoying it! It gives me a lot of joy to enjoy Penang food while living in the cold Scandinavia country. Look forward to more good food and thanks for this website.

Bunga kantan is only avalaible in Asia,,,we are Indonesian is commont to use it tp put in our dishes,,,,many food made from bunga kantan in our country,,,,But i missed Laksa Pinag Badly,,I never eat in any more since 1998,,,as I live in Hong Kong, where I can’t find it,,,and In indonesia we don’t have as well..

Hello Rasa Malaysia. Thank you for the amazing Assam Laksa recipe. Been craving for it for awhile now. I was wondering, where did you get belacan? I live in Minneapolis/St. Paul but I have yet to be able to find belacan.